The 27 lawsuits were filed in the past six years against the U.S. government by states including New Mexico, New York and Washington, cities, private property owners and local businesses near military facilities where firefighting foams were used.
The plaintiffs say they are seeking potentially hundreds of billions of dollars in damages to pay for groundwater and soil remediation near military sites across the country.
Some businesses among the plaintiffs, including a dairy that claims PFAS-contaminated water caused its cattle to die and a property owner whose blueberry cropland was allegedly damaged by the chemicals, are also seeking punitive damages.
The government said it was immune to the lawsuits under a provision of the Federal Tort Claims Act that protects it from tort liability for the discretionary acts of government employees.
In its motions to dismiss, the government said the plaintiffs have not identified specific PFAS handling regulations or restrictions that were violated, and that military policy actually encouraged the use of the firefighting foams that contained PFAS for decades since it is very effective at extinguishing jet fuel fires.
Napoli said there are specific policies at individual bases or military sites the plaintiffs believe were violated, which would undermine the government's exemption claims.
The lawsuits against the U.S. government are among thousands of cases related to PFAS firefighting foams that have been consolidated in multidistrict litigation in South Carolina federal court since 2018.
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